AssetID: 54849072
Headline: RAW VIDEO: Goliath The Tortoise Celebrates 135th Birthday On Father's Day By Becoming Oldest First-Time Dad
Caption: Eat your heart out Mick Jagger! On Father’s Day on 15 June, Goliath the Galapagos tortoise celebrated his 135th birthday by becoming a dad for the very first time. Up until this prior week, he had not fathered any offspring. That changed when after 128 days of incubation, one egg out of a clutch of 8 that was laid January 27th, successfully hatched on June 4th! Not only is this the first offspring for Goliath, but it is also the first time in the history of Zoo Miami that a Galapagos tortoise has hatched. Goliath’s official record has him hatching out on the island of Santa Cruz on 15 June, with his latest birth year given as 1890. He arrived at the Bronx Zoo on 23 July, 1929, and finally came to Zoo Miami on 30 July, 1981. During his time at Zoo Miami, he had bred with several different females but had never successfully sired an offspring. The mother of his first ever shelled bundle of joy is Sweet Pea, who arrived at the Crandon Park Zoo on Key Biscayne, Florida as an adult in 1960, indicating that she is between 85-100 years old. An application has been made to the Guinness Book of World Records to officially recognize Goliath as “The Oldest First-Time Father in History!” Considering the age of Sweet Pea, their combined age is over 200 and they may also qualify as “The Oldest First-Time Parents in History!” Both Goliath and Sweet Pea are doing well in their public habitat and are not aware of their newly hatched offspring. In the wild, hatchlings are on their own from the moment they emerge from the egg and the parents have no further connection to them. The hatchling appears to be healthy and has been removed from the incubator and placed in a separate enclosure where it is active and full of energy.
Keywords: feature,photo,video,tortoise,father's day,reptiles,animals,offbeat
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